Columbia leasing final building in Patroon Creek

When Columbia Development finishes leasing space in its new building in Patroon Creek, the office park off Washington Avenue will be completely filled.

“We’re finished,” said Joe Nicolla, president of Albany, NY-based Columbia.

The final building, which Nicolla said had a price tag of “upwards of $6 million,” is a 42,000 square-foot professional building at 455 Patroon Creek Boulevard. RBC Wealth Management, which consolidated its Albany and Schenectady offices in December, and sister RBC Capital Markets were the first tenants, with a total of 11,000 square feet on the second floor.

“We are very close to negotiating leases for the balance of the space,” Nicolla said. “We could have two leases signed by the end of next week.”

He estimated that that will leave about 10,000 square feet available, but likely not for long.

Then the vacancy rate at Patroon Creek will be back where it was before the new building opened—at zero percent.

Patroon Creek, which is located across Washington Avenue from The Harriman Campus, is primarily home to financial and health care concerns. SEFCU, the area’s largest credit union , built its headquarters there about a decade ago. Columbia Development then teamed up with the Rotterdam-based Galesi Group to put up a headquarters for health insurer CDPHP. Columbia followed that project up with a medical office building at 400 Patroon Creek Boulevard.

“We had room for another 42,000 square feet so we built this building,” Nicolla said of 455 Patroon Creek.

He said people once questioned his plan to purchase property across from the Harriman, but he saw the potential in Patroon Creek’s easy access off I-90 and the draw of nearby buildings such as the Bone and Joint Center on Washington Ave. He said the park is now one of the most familiar addresses in the Albany region.